The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Generally, today's light-weight utility vehicles, e.g., maintenance vehicles, shuttle vehicles and golf cars, have a two-piece floorboard including a bottom floor portion and a front panel portion. The bottom floor portion is typically fabricated of metal and the front panel portion is usually fabricated of plastic. These two-piece floorboards are typically riveted to a metal, e.g., aluminum or steel, frame along opposing outer edges, or sides, of the floorboard portions. Light-weight utility vehicles having such floorboards so constructed are very susceptible to incurring frame damage from a low speed side impact. That is, the floorboard provides no impact protection to the frame. Thus, should a low speed side impact occur, the frame effectively directly incurs the impact and is readily damaged.
Additionally, to attach other components of the utility vehicle to the bottom floor portion, for example, a brake and accelerator assembly, a fuel tank, a battery mount, body panels and an electronic controller, requires bolt holes to be drilled into and/or welds to be made to the bottom portion. Thus, mounting such components to the floorboard is labor and cost intensive.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a light-weight utility vehicle floorboard that will provide impact protection to vehicle frame and simplify the mounting of various other vehicle components to the floorboard during assembly of the vehicle.